1979 Open Championship
Tournament information
Dates18–21 July 1979
LocationLancashire, England
Course(s)Royal Lytham & St Annes
Golf Club
Tour(s)European Tour
PGA Tour
Statistics
Par71[1]
Length6,822 yards (6,238 m)[1][2]
Field152 players
82 after 1st cut
61 after 2nd cut[1]
Cut152 (+10) (1st cut)
227 (+14) (2nd cut)
Prize fund£155,000[1]
$325,000
Winner's share£15,000[1][3]
$31,500
Champion
Spain Seve Ballesteros
283 (−1)
← 1978
1980 →
Lytham & St Annes is located in England
Lytham & St Annes
Lytham &
St Annes
Location in England
Lytham & St Annes is located in Lancashire
Lytham & St Annes
Lytham &
St Annes
Location in Lancashire. England

The 1979 Open Championship was the 108th Open Championship, held 18–21 July at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lancashire, England. Seve Ballesteros, 22, won the first of his five major titles, three strokes ahead of runners-up Jack Nicklaus and Ben Crenshaw.[4] It was the first of his three Open Championship victories; he raised the Claret Jug again in 1984 and 1988.[5][6]

This was the last Open scheduled to end on Saturday;[7] in 1980 it moved to a Sunday final round, similar to the other three majors.

Course

Main article: Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club
Hole Yards Par    Hole Yards Par
1 206 3 10 334 4
2 436 4 11 542 5
3 458 4 12 201 3
4 393 4 13 339 4
5 212 3 14 445 4
6 486 5 15 468 4
7 551 5 16 356 4
8 394 4 17 453 4
9 162 3 18 386 4
Out 3,298 35 In 3,524 36
Source:[2] Total 6,822 71

Hole #6 was a par 4 in 2012.

7th hole green in 2009

Lengths of the course for The Open Championship (since 1950):[1]

Round summaries

First round

Wednesday, 18 July 1979

Place Player Score To par
1 Scotland Bill Longmuir 65 −6
2 United States Hale Irwin 68 −3
3 United States Jerry Pate 69 −2
4 Japan Isao Aoki 70 −1
T5 Australia Terry Gale 71 E
England Peter McEvoy (a)
United States Orville Moody
United States Lee Trevino
T9 South Africa Hugh Baiocchi 72 +1
Scotland Ken Brown
New Zealand Dennis Clark
United States Ben Crenshaw
England Gary Cullen
United States Jack Nicklaus
United States Tom Watson

Source:[8]

Second round

Thursday, 19 July 1979

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Hale Irwin 68-68=136 −6
2 Spain Seve Ballesteros] 73-65=138 −4
3 Scotland Bill Longmuir 65-74=139 −3
4 United States Tom Watson 72-68=140 −2
T5 New Zealand Dennis Clark 72-69=141 −1
United States Jack Nicklaus 72-69=141
7 Australia Graham Marsh 74-68=142 E
T8 Scotland Ken Brown 72-71=143 +1
United States Bob Byman 73-70=143
United States Ben Crenshaw 72-71=143
United States Jerry Pate 69-74=143

Source:[9]

Amateurs: McEvoy (+3), Player (+8), Hallberg (+14), Hoad (+15),
                 Bennett (+17), Myers (+18), Guy (+20), Whelan (+23).

Third round

Friday, 20 July 1979

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Hale Irwin 68-68-75=211 −2
2 Spain Seve Ballesteros 73-65-75=213 E
T3 England Mark James 76-69-69=214 +1
United States Jack Nicklaus 72-69-73=214
T5 Australia Rodger Davis 75-70-70=215 +2
United States Bob Byman 73-70-72=215
United States Ben Crenshaw 72-71-72=215
T8 Japan Isao Aoki 70-74-72=216 +3
Australia Greg Norman 73-71-72=216
United States Tom Watson 72-68-76=216
Scotland Bill Longmuir 65-74-77=216

Amateurs: McEvoy (+4), Player (+19).

Final round

Saturday, 21 July 1979

Place Player Score To par Money (£)
1 Spain Seve Ballesteros 73-65-75-70=283 −1 15,000
T2 United States Ben Crenshaw 72-71-72-71=286 +2 11,250
United States Jack Nicklaus 72-69-73-72=286
4 England Mark James 76-69-69-73=287 +3 7,500
5 Australia Rodger Davis 75-70-70-73=288 +4 6,500
6 United States Hale Irwin 68-68-75-78=289 +5 6,000
T7 Australia Graham Marsh 74-68-75-74=291 +7 5,000
Japan Isao Aoki 70-74-72-75=291
United States Bob Byman 73-70-72-76=291
T10 New Zealand Bob Charles 78-72-70-72=292 +8 4,000
Japan Masashi Ozaki 75-69-75-73=292
Australia Greg Norman 73-71-72-76=292

Source:[1][6][10][11][12]

Amateurs: McEvoy (+10)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. pp. 57, 203. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  2. ^ a b "The course only tigers can tame". Glasgow Herald. 18 July 1979. p. 17.
  3. ^ Bonk, Thomas (14 July 1988). "There's nothing like it: British Open course set apart by history and other factors". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  4. ^ Jenkins, Dan (30 July 1979). "Adios, amigos". Sports Illustrated.
  5. ^ Lipica, Mike (22 July 1979). "Ballesteros wins British". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 4.
  6. ^ a b Jacobs, Raymond (23 July 1979). "A wayward win much in character". Glasgow Herald. p. 16.
  7. ^ "Spaniard overtakes the Yanks". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services. 22 July 1979. p. 1B.
  8. ^ Jacobs, Raymond (19 July 1979). "Longmuir blazes the Open trail". Glasgow Herald. p. 16.
  9. ^ Jacobs, Raymond (20 July 1979). "Sevvy has 65 – but Irwin leads". Glasgow Herald. p. 24.
  10. ^ "Leaderboard: 1979". The Open Championship. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  11. ^ "The 108th Open Golf Championship: (1979) leaderboard". European Tour. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  12. ^ "1979 Open Championship results". databasegolf.com. Retrieved 4 July 2012.

External links

53°44′58″N 3°01′05″W / 53.7495°N 3.018°W / 53.7495; -3.018

1979 Men's major golf championships
The Open Championship
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